Due to the ubiquity of telephone answering devices, such as answering machines, voice-mail systems, etc., few telephone calls go unanswered. Thus, due to this increase in telephone connectivity, the importance of reliably and efficiently communicating messages to live recipients, as well as recording devices, is great. Although the ability of a live caller to distinguish whether a live person or a recording device is answering a telephone call is often straight-forward, such distinction is more difficult when delivering pre-recorded messages.
Currently, systems are available where pre-recorded messages are delivered in the same predetermined manner to live recipients or recording devices. In a typical scenario, a telephone call is placed, and as soon as the call is answered, and a signal is received by the recipient (known as answer supervision), the pre-recorded message is played. Often these systems are instructed to play the message up to three times to ensure that the entire message is received. If the message is received by a recording device, the recordation of the message will begin at whatever point the message is at when the device goes into its recording mode. Thus, upon playing the incoming message, recipients often hear a message starting at the middle of the pre-recorded statement, and then the entire message one or two times thereafter.
A significant disadvantage of current message delivery systems is the technical compromise between facilitating quick delivery to live parties, against ensuring that the message is not delivered to the answering device until it is ready to record. The delivery systems for pre-recorded messages, that are currently available, are not capable of adapting their delivery to the environment created by the recipient. It is therefore desirable to improve the delivery of pre-recorded messages such that an entire message may be delivered from beginning to end in a single transmission, and where the responsiveness of the delivery to a live recipient and a recording device are equally reliable.